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Ethan Stark
} Prince Ethan Stark is the second son and child of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn Tully of Riverrun. He has five siblings, Stark Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon, with a half-brother Jon Snow. As the second youngest of the Stark children, with Jon being a bastard, Ethan is second-in-line to lordship of the North after Robb. When Robb declares himself King in the North, he names Ethan to be the absent Prince of Winterfell. Appearance and Personality Ethan is of the same height as Robb, and taller by an inch or two than Sansa, with pale skin. With a jaw that seems to melt into his cheekbones and a constantly austere look about him, Ethan is not considered to be handsome by most and, in several regards, has lived in the shadow of Robb - Robb is the better swordsman, is more handsome and receives more regards outside of Winterfell for being the heir to House Stark, not to mention Robb is infinitely more patient. Ethan is slender, with a flat stomach and a reportedly long neck. He has black hair that has never been tidy, and he has his mother's beautiful blue eyes - in fact, his eyes are his best feature according to Ned Stark, and it is rumoured. He does not look that much like his father, according to Catelyn, and looks scarily like his uncle Brandon. In many ways, he is the polar opposite of his father - Ethan is extremely competitive and fiercely determined to a fault, and he is dangerously impatient. A young man with a monstrous temper, he is completely willing to speak his mind, regardless of the company he is in and often at his own expense. Ethan's fire is contrasted by the fact that the northern people adore him - they find him to be a likeable young man and think that Robb needs an individual of his nature around him. Tyrion finds him to be too much like Jaime, and Joffrey hates him passionately. Ethan is fiery and ambitious, but he is also loyal to his own kin. Although it is noted that Ethan follows the Old Gods, he aligns largely towards the Faith of the Seven and aspires to follow the path of the Warrior. He is the most frequent visitor of the godswood of all his father's children, and finds conflict in how he should love his family when his parents express consistent disappointment with him. When the War of the Five Kings finally begins, Ethan dresses himself in armour enamelled the colour of copper and wears red mail. He has a great brown horse he calls Vermithor, after the dragon of King Jaehaerys Targaryen. He is a great archer, and prefers the use of a bow than a sword or any other weapon - in fact, Jon recognises that Ethan is the best archer in the family. History Early life Ethan Stark was born in 284 AC, shortly after the end of Robert's Rebellion. He was the second son of Eddard Stark and Catelyn Tully, younger by at least a year than their eldest son Robb. It was reported that Ethan was named for Ethan Glover, who fought and died at the Tower of Joy against Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Arthur Dayne. Catelyn's birth of Ethan was a complicated one - it was carried out when Catelyn collapsed by the weirwood of Winterfell, where eventually he was born. Some common men of Winterfell believe this as a sign of Ethan being a promising child. From a very young age, Ethan proved to be an extremely difficult child, to say the least: temperamental, once moody and then cheerful and then enraged, Ethan contrasted drastically with the older Robb, but soon the two of them became very much attached. In regards to Jon Snow, who was his half-brother, Ethan was actually rather decent, if a little naive - he tried to stay friends with Jon but he would often forget how much his mother despised him, and this caused occasional rifts between the boys. When Sansa was young, she would often play with Ethan and he would teasingly scare her, but when she grew up Sansa laughed with him over this. Eddard remembers an incident where Ethan was attacked by an owl whose nest he had approached, and he ended up hissing the bird away, leading to Ned remembering similar incidents mentioned about Brandon Stark as a child. This led to Ned striving to make further connections with his second son, who reminded him so painfully of the brother he lost to Aerys Targaryen during the dawn of the Rebellion. As they got older, Robb and Jon involved young Ethan in their games and when they played at war, Jon pretended to be Ryam Redwyne, Robb to be King Daeron Targaryen, but Ethan to be Brynden Rivers. This led to many believing that he felt alone, but this was more to do with the fact that Ethan had always had an austereness to him since childhood, and many believed that he had more ice in his veins than most Starks. Arya was an entertaining challenge for Ethan, and proved just as fiery as he ''was, which led to the two of them seeming to not like each other originally. Arya liked to watch Ethan train with his brothers, and she remembers one particular bout in which Jon and Ethan sparred for so long that they wreaked chaos in the stables and Ethan could barely breathe from exhaustion in the aftermath. He maintains that he won, but Jon knows that he was narrowly more skilled than the boy. Ser Rodrik Cassel thought he was a better archer than a swordsman, and Ethan trained with a bow far longer each day than a horse or a blade. When he was ten, his mother gave him a young stallion that he named Vermithor, after the dragon ridden by King Jaehaerys Targaryen, the First of His Name. Vermithor grew alongside his rider and Ned would take him hunting several times. In response to this, a young Theon Greyjoy named his horse Sunfyre, which he considered the most beautiful of dragons, but the horse collapsed during a race across the White Knife and Vermithor won. This was reflected by Ethan as a fitting, if extremely grim result because Sunfyre was mortally crippled after falling in battle by a river against another dragon. Theon resented Ethan under the belief that the latter had instigated the race that shattered Sunfyre, but it was repeatedly explained that Theon had instilled the challenge, whereas Ethan had competitively risen to the challenge. At some point when the boy was twelve, he met a girl named Alysanne with whom he was romantically involved, but the girl died of pox when Ethan was thirteen, and he became despondent afterwards. Only the sympathy of Robb consoled Ethan, and the wild company of Arya. When Ethan finally emerged from his chambers, he sat in front of his father and asked for a goblet of mulled wine, which Ned reluctantly gave him. This would be the first time that Ethan ever got drunk, and Catelyn would scold and chastise him about it for the rest of their relationship. By the time the books have commenced, Ethan is fourteen years old. He has not fought in proper battles yet, even though he has overseen several executions by his father, and aspires to be a warrior. A Game of Thrones Ethan accompanies his father and is among the group of twenty who witness Lord Eddard Stark dispensing the king's justice to Gared, a deserter of the Night's Watch. It is implied that, for a young man, Ethan has seen three previous occasions where his father executed a man. He is noted to have laughed at seeing his brothers Robb and Jon Snow racing on their horses. When they find a dead direwolf and her pups on the way back home, Ethan comforts Bran when the latter protests to the slaughter of the pups, and angrily repels Theon Greyjoy when he japes about the boy's despair. Bran and each of the other Stark siblings receives one of the young animals as a pet - Ethan's is a thickset and powerful one which he struggles to find a name for, and the pups that will become Lady and Shaggydog are fearful of it. When King Robert Baratheon visits Winterfell, Ethan is present and accompanies a lady-in-waiting of Princess Myrcella's called Melissa Swann, who takes a liking to him. After a while, however, Ethan grows bored of Melissa and distracts her with Robb. Beforehand, he is noted by the king to be the image of his brother, which makes his mother seem very uncomfortable. During the feast, Ethan is confronted by Ser Jaime Lannister, who asks coldly if he is afraid of fire - it is not until later on that Ethan angrily realises the jape meant by this. During the conversation, Ethan asks if Jaime ever cared for Aerys, to which Jaime silently leaves him. He is smitten with Queen Cersei, whom he finds beautiful, but notes that Cersei's beauty doesn't match the ice in her voice, or the frost in her eyes. He shares this heatedly with Sansa, who calls him foolish for thinking the queen can be anything but great. Sansa is sad about the anger in Ethan's voice afterwards and wishes he hadn't spoken. Ethan, on the other hand, is furious at Sansa for her blindness. Bran falls from a tower and goes into a coma. Ethan visits his brother several times and hopes for him to awaken, and notes that Summer is incapable of being quiet while his master is unconscious. Upon hearing that Jon plans on taking the black and joining the Night's Watch, Ethan goes straight to see Jon to say his farewells. After a long silence between them, Ethan wishes Jon good fortune in the trials to come, knowing that the Wall is tough and cold, but also that even bastards can rise high among their black brothers. When his wolf takes mice under his bed in the night, as he has done since he was brought to Winterfell, Ethan calls him Shadow, noting that he is the quietest hunter of all the direwolves, and the fact that he rarely comes out in the day. He visits Bran Stark's bed once again and comes to the conclusion that Bran would never have fallen without being provoked by someone else. Catelyn takes this into account but thinks that Ethan is being overtly curious. That night, Ethan dreams that he is prowling the crypts of Winterfell, and when he wakes up Shadow has deserted the place under his bed where he sleeps. Later on, Ned comes and tells him that he will come to King's Landing with him, hopefully to cement a marriage in King's Landing. However, everything goes wrong when, at the inn of the crossroads, Joffrey and Sansa go for a walk and are waylaid by a sparring Arya and Mycah. When Joffrey attacks Mycah and is wounded by Arya and her direwolf Nymeria, Ethan goes out on his own to find her. On the way, Shadow faces Nymeria and keeps her hidden while the Stark soldiers search for the girl. When Ethan is restrained by Sandor Clegane and brought back to the inn, he is accosted by Ned, who demands to hear from Arya what happened. When he sees Joffrey, the boy is seriously injured and the wolf bites are genuine, but he refuses to believe the prince when he suggests that Arya instigated the fight. When Arya herself is faced by Robert and the queen over the incident, Ethan becomes furious when the prince heatedly accuses the Stark girl, almost drawing his sword only for Ned to hold the blade in its scabbard. Later on, after Ned has executed Lady as recompense for Joffrey's injuries, he insists that Ethan will not be coming to the Red Keep after his actions during the confrontation and he will be sent back to Winterfell to stay with Robb. On his way back to Winterfell, Ethan says goodbye to Arya, who is distraught at the fact that she is losing the brother who had believed in her. In contrast, Sansa is furious at him for threatening Joffrey. Leaving the inn, Ethan takes two of the household guards of his father's with him - the titanic Gerold Umber and the seasoned Simon Cerwyn. When he leaves at last, he catches Ned's face in a window, and then Arya rushes up and hugs him from her chambers. Jory comes and pulls her away, and Ethan finds himself almost shedding a tear at the separation of his family. Throughout the journey, Ethan rages about Joffrey and the injustice of Lady's death, which both his men and even Shadow seem to agree. However, their conversation is interrupted when a group of outlaws arrive with castle-forged steel swords and attack them. Taking up his bow, Ethan kills three of them, and Shadow rips apart five more. Simon and Gerold fight of several others, but the Cerwyn knight is wounded and Ethan tends to his injuries. Realising that the swords are far too good for common vagabonds, as are their armour and provisions, Ethan suspects that they were sent by Joffrey, and resolves to go back to the inn and confront the prince. However, Gerold Umber tells him that Joffrey will deny it and it will be seen as a disgraceful accusation to add to the previous one, and their best bet would be to return to the Stark keep and send a raven to King's Landing. When they come to King's Landing, Eddard learns that Ethan's planned chambers are given as extensions for Sansa's own. He has a nightmare later on about Ethan's face and rage. Arya, in the meantime, dreams about Ethan killing Joffrey in combat and the direwolves chewing at his corpse. When Ethan comes back to Winterfell, he learns that his mother has already left and is going to King's Landing to meet with Lord Eddard - she suspects that Bran was attacked, ''twice, by the Lannisters. Believing that the lions are plotting against them, Ethan confronts Robb about going to war against Casterly Rock, since Joffrey and his mother has offended them grievously already. Robb is more cautious than his brother and refuses, but many men at Winterfell are moved by Ethan, who Bran realises is incredibly dangerous for his charisma and his fire. When Maester Luwin goes to see Ethan, he notices that Ethan took a scar on his left shoulder from the attack on him, and he hasn't even noticed it until he returned to Winterfell. Warning him that Brandon Stark's fire killed him, he incenses Ethan, who has grown tired of being seen as Brandon Stark reincarnated, but when he speaks with Bran, he finds himself humbled when Bran expresses his own sorrow at what has happened to him. Ethan resolves not to sue for war any longer. He sends a raven to King's Landing to at least inform Ned of what happened, but the letter is intercepted by Varys and hidden. While at home, Ethan starts sleeping in the crypts for unknown reasons, which worries Bran. Robb, on the other hand, convinces Ethan to connect more with Bran and Rickon, who need him. While Ethan is playing with the two younger brothers, Tyrion Lannister arrives to Ethan's chagrin - he is present when Bran is presented with a special saddle to help him ride. On Tyrion's departure, Ethan thanks Tyrion and apologises for Robb's harshness. Tyrion tells him that he has been to the Wall with Jon Snow and remarks that Jon is more of a Stark than Robb seems to be. Ethan takes offence for this, until Tyrion asks him why he thinks that Bran fell - Ethan tells him stoically that the dwarf does not want to know what he thinks. When Tyrion leaves, Bran takes to riding, but he is attacked by rogue wildlings, only for Robb and Theon to kill three of them saving Bran. When Osha, the survivor, is brought to Winterfell she takes a begrudging liking to Ethan, and thinks that he would make a good wildling. Ethan is intrigued by this, and wonders if he could apply wildling practise of strength-over-blood to overcome Robb and lead the North against Joffrey in vengeance for his assaults against House Stark. While resting with Shadow, Ethan is visited by a chambermaid named Nancy who appears to be infatuated with him, a feeling that he almost reciprocates. After she plays with Shadow, the wolf takes a liking to her and he almost thinks that she will be a good match with him based on her looks alone, but the two of them know that this cannot be because Ethan will eventually marry someone powerful. He also remembers Alysanne, the last girl he loved, and is discouraged from the prospect of a relationship with her. Leaving his room and visiting Robb, he learns later on that Ned has been arrested by Joffrey, and that Robert Baratheon is dead. Robb is enraged at this but is cautioned against war, to which Ethan privately faces his brother and learns that Robb intends to declare war on the Iron Throne. Seeing his chance, Ethan aids in calling the banners of the North, summoning House Bolton, Umber and Mormont. When Catelyn hears of this, she imagines Ethan's reaction and knows that the boy will not rest until every inch of existing land north of the God's Eye is warring against the Lannisters. Robb names Ethan as his lieutenant and gives him a squire Matthew Bracken. When Greatjon Umber is hosted at Winterfell, along with several other major bannermen of the Starks, he drinks extensively with the Greatjon, to the point that he doubts that the boy was meant to be a Stark and rather an Umber. Ethan reacts vengefully when the Greatjon insults and even shames Robb for not putting him in the vanguard. The only thing that stops Ethan from turning steel against the man is the fact that Grey Wind intervenes. Later on, Ethan's fiery charm wins over the Karstarks and Maege Mormont, but Robb is pressured by his brother's efforts and confides in Bran that he fears Ethan's voice will deafen all other bannermen and prevent them from joining him, causing Rickon to laugh. Maege spars with Ethan, but Robb stops the session by resolving that they ought to save the fighting for the lions and stags. When Catelyn returns to her eldest son, she finds Ethan talking with Torrhen Karstark. When they pass through the Twins, Ethan is rather unsettled by the concept of Robb marrying a Frey girl, but knows not to voice his contempt for Walder Frey while they are crossing the Twins. At the camps, Shadow hunts in the woods until he is called back by Ethan, whom Robb places in charge of the archers. In the foreground of the Battle of the Whispering Wood, Ethan is given a new sword by Roose Bolton, who advises him to keep it close. He tends to Vermithor in the stables and remembers that Jaehaerys Targaryen, the Old King, rode the real Vermithor beyond the wall to fight wildlings at some point, as Maester Luwin once told him. He remembers that Vermithor had bronze scales, of a similar colour to Ethan's own armour, but he also wonders if Jaehaerys was braver than Ethan, even though he rode one of the fiercest dragons of its generation. Later, during the battle, Ethan takes command of his archers and uses them to mow through several dozens of Jaime Lannister's soldiers. When the battle turns against the Kingslayer, he tries to rush Robb himself, and Ethan rides out with his men and presses him and most of his surviving soldiers towards the Young Wolf. Jaime is defeated, but Ethan tries several times to personally kill him. He manages to kill Edwyn Brax in the skirmish, but is heatedly angry that he didn't manage to avenge the attempt on Bran's life. When Jaime goes for his sword, Ethan takes satisfaction in kicking him in the face to stop him. He is one of the first to suggest they keep the Kingslayer their prisoner, but Catelyn fears that this is because Ethan wants Jaime all for himself. After the battle, Ethan has realised he has no scars but acknowledges how he had the foresight to do so, unlike how he did when he returned to Winterfell from the inn at the crossroads. Robb commends him for his actions during the battle, and his ability to command, but it is acknowledged between them that Ethan's success was due to the instructions given to him by Robb. While the two of them walk they discuss what they saw in the battle and Ethan voices that he was hoping Robb would take up the call to duel the Kingslayer, and that he would kill him, but Robb rejects this and states that Jaime was the better swordsman and that the loss would have destroyed their efforts. Ethan expresses his gratitude that Robb hadn't taken up the call for the sake of a strategic advantage. Robb asks Ethan if he will follow him properly and not challenge his trust the way he would have challenged Ned's, and Ethan promises this. While they talk, Ethan remembers Robb as a child playing at war as King Daeron the Young Dragon, and comments that Robb has changed and become a man before his time. Robb takes this as praise, and goes away to speak with his mother, but before he does this he wishes Ethan a happy nameday - Ethan is fifteen years old, but has hidden it so as not to overshadow Robb's triumph against the West. Ethan then trades playful barbs with Rickard Karstark and condoles him for his sons' deaths during the combat. Ethan sends a raven to Winterfell telling of the victory, and sends another one to Castle Black telling the same - the latter raven is shot down by Roose Bolton in secret so it doesn't reach him. At dinner, Ethan joins Dacey Mormont and drinks with her. After a long conversation, Ethan becomes enamoured with Dacey and she becomes greatly amused by his infatuation, and teases him for being attracted to her. When she takes him to her tent and undresses, he impulsively engages with her, becoming hopelessly aroused, but their encounter is interrupted by Jonos Bracken, who calls Dacey back down to the hall where a war council is to be had. Ethan is disappointed by his snatched opportunity to take a woman who seemingly wanted him, but he comes down with her. On the way down, he learns that Eddard Stark has been executed. Disgusted that this has happened, Ethan storms into the nearby woods and starts sobbing and screaming, only to be met by Shadow, who starts weeping with him. Dacey returns and embraces him where he kneels, accepting that he is still a young man and that the loss of his father has shattered him. After crying himself dry and replaying his last meeting with Eddard Stark at the inn at the crossroads, Ethan asks Dacey to go and find Catelyn, which she does. When she has gone, Ethan goads Shadow ahead of him and wrathfully storms over to Jaime's cell, where he breaks inside and kicks Jaime in the stomach and punches him in the face, which impresses the Kingslayer, who thought that all Starks were too honourable to deal their own blows. Ethan hisses that the only reason Jaime isn't dead is because Ethan loves his sisters more than he hates a Lannister; Jaime is rather shocked to hear of Ned's death, but his surprise turns to mockery and after a fiery argument Catelyn's attention is called and she drags Ethan out of the cell, coming just short of hitting him for his total folly. She doesn't stay angry for long, however, and she ends up embracing her son as they share their despair. Ethan silently vows that, one day, Joffrey will have nowhere to hide from him - he will put a poisoned arrow through Joffrey's leg and watch him die. Later on, during a meeting of the northern lords, Ethan protests to Renly and Stannis being prospective kings to bow to, and urges Robb to simply go back to Winterfell and protect his remaining brothers. However, he is compelled to the opposite when the Greatjon declares that he doesn't care for any of the other kings - he names Robb Stark the first King in the North in over two hundred years. After hearing this, Ethan pledges his sword and his bow to Robb and hails him, much to the awe of Catelyn. While all of the lords repeat the call, Ethan notices Robb looking gravely at his new subjects and remembers how he labelled his brother a man too soon. A Clash of Kings Ethan continues to fight alongside his brother, but beforehand he takes a crown fashioned by his grandfather Hoster Tully, and crowns Robb the King in the North and the Trident. In response, Robb declares Ethan to be Prince of Winterfell, with Bran being the ruling Prince of Winterfell. Thinking that the best option would be to find good ground in the Reach, thus propelling the Tyrells towards their cause, Robb sends a raven proposing marriage between House Hightower and House Stark - Ethan would marry one of their daughters. Ethan is angry at not being consulted about this and Dacey Mormont admits to having tried to seduce him, which Catelyn is both entertained and enraged by. Ethan suggests a marriage between House Mormont and House Stark, which Robb is sceptical of. Despite this, a letter of refusal is sent in response to Robb's raven, and Robb asks Ethan if he is completely comfortable marrying a woman who is considerably older than him. Ethan states that he wishes only to provide power to the Kingdom of the North. In private, Catelyn believes that Dacey is a fit enough match for Ethan, since they are both fiercer than fire and both of them belonging to noble, powerful houses in the north. Ethan was later sent to Raventree Hall and a marriage is planned between him and Lady Meria Blackwood, who is younger and personally less dangerous than Dacey. Ethan is given six hundred men of his own - including Dacey and her sister Alysane, Merrett Frey, Robert Manderly, Willem Glover and Smalljon Umber - to take south to Raventree Hall, and on the way they face battle against Lannister survivors from the Camps. After eradicating the enemy, Ethan meets Tytos Blackwood and he explains that the conditions of the marriage is that Ethan will take Meria back to Winterfell. They arrive at Raventree Hall to find that the Lannisters there, led by a distant cousin of Tywin Lannister, Ser Criston Lannister. The lion knight spots the incoming army and positions his men around the castle. Tytos wants to take the castle en masse, but Ethan reminds him that his kin inside Raventree Hall will be slaughtered if this is carried out and cautions him to take the castle from the inside, rooting out the westermen. This plan is successful, and Tytos smashes the lannister soldiers inside his castle, spilling any survivors into the open. When Criston Lannister regroups his men and tries to return to his captured keep, Ethan shoots down his guardsmen and allows Tytos Blackwood to personally duel and kill him. When the Blackwood flag is hung over the castle again, Ethan sends a raven to report a victory, but with no prisoners. When he finally meets the girl, he finds her passably beautiful but not the same as Dacey, who excites him. When Dacey encourages him to try harder to get to know his betrothed, he does and finds her to be a lot smarter than Dacey, but still having something wrong with her. Later on, Ethan learns that Robb has sent Theon Greyjoy to the Iron Islands to sign a pact with Balon Greyjoy - while recognising that this will give him an edge in the war, but is completely sceptical of trusting the ironborn. While waiting at Raventree Hall, Ethan insists that the wedding is carried out quickly because he is needed back with Robb to move against Oxcross - Tytos arranges for the marriage to take place the next day. Meanwhile, Meria expresses that she is not afraid of either her father or of Ethan himself, and therefore is not afraid of going to war with him if they have to - she knows how to fight. Ethan finds that hard to believe, in contrast to the Mormont girl he actually loves. When they are quickly married, Ethan is given some land around Raventree Hall, but knows that Lord Blackwood is sceptical of having a Stark unlike Robb as his son-in-law, and therefore cannot name him to inherit the family lands. When the bedding takes place, Ethan insists on being alone and tries to initiate with Meria, but she cannot excite him despite being very beautiful. Later on, he remembers that Dacey entered the room and assists them, which suggests that he had sex with both of them at the same time, and that is how he consummated with Meria. With the marriage carried out, Ethan declares his intent to return to Robb's side. Meria encourages him to stay, and sexually engages him again. However, even though he enjoys the encounter since Meria has become reportedly fiercer than she was the night before, Ethan doesn't change his mind and takes his forces south, but Tytos Blackwood insists he take Meria with him. Ethan later overhears that Meria isn't even Blackwood's daughter, but a distant niece, and therefore is not set to inherit anything. He wonders what his family will feel if they find they have been so deceived, but also comes to the decision that his mother knew about this and did it anyway Ethan learns later on that, while Blackwood is loyal to the Starks, he has less love for Meria than any other of his descendants. He also learns that the man is despairing that the Lannisters have razed his homeland so badly that Raventree Hall is all he has left at present. Upon returning to the camps, Ethan learns that Catelyn has been sent to parley with Renly Baratheon and that Robb is moving from Riverrun. When he makes camp near Riverrun, he has Shadow prowl the area for opposing scouts, but knows that Riverrun is essentially free of any intervention by Casterly Rock, so long as they keep going forward. When he rejoins Robb and accepts a blessing of their marriage, he insists on going straight to the war councils. There, he is given the vanguard when they move on Oxcross, but not before Robb reveals to him that he did know that Meria was a cousin and not a daughter to Raventree Hall, but needed a connection with the Blackwoods to give him a fiercer advantage in the war. Accepting this but still angry, Ethan moves on Hornvale with his army and engages House Brax in open battle - he proposes using a shield wall for his infantrymen, while his archers sit at the rear and rain arrows against the enemy. This strategy works marvellously as the Brax army is exhausted into falling back. When Ser Rupert Brax emerges from his castle with a new force and tries to beat back the northmen, Shadow attacks his horse and causes him to fall from it. Rupert is injured by the wolf but he escapes to Oxcross, leaving Ethan to properly crush the castle quickly so that he can move back to Oxcross, joining Robb as the battle begins. Grey Wind and Shadow are monstrously effective in the battle, and Stafford Lannister (who holds the village for Lord Tywin) is killed by Rickard Karstark before he can reach his horse. However, Rupert Brax reaches his horse and kills Willem Glover. He tries to reroute against the Starks, but Ethan shatters through his guard and, after a frenzied confrontation, kills him. The victory against Stafford Lannister reaches King's Landing and it is a surprise to hear of two direwolves used in the battle - when Joffrey hears of it, however, he publicly humiliates Sansa. Catelyn returns, having witnessed Renly Baratheon being murdered after a parley with his insurgent brother Stannis, along with Brienne of Tarth, who was Rainbow Guard to Renly. With the forces of the Reach and Stormlands divided between Stannis and the Iron Throne, they have gained little from the strategy of treating with either king. Robb sends Ethan out to help take Ashemark, while Greatjon Umber attacks gold mines, financially damaging Casterly Rock. While fighting at Ashemark, Ethan departs and engages the armies of Daven Lannister, who attempts to push them back. Daven is a much more dangerous enemy than his father Stafford, and Ethan's armies are shaved along the vanguard, with Ethan himself being injured. Meria Blackwood takes command of her own small army and breaks the Lannister retreat along the Red Fork, pressing them towards Sarsfield. After a brutal night battle between the lion and the wolf, Ethan eventually wins and takes several prisoners, but the lands are worth little with only Sarsfield as a legitimate seat to control them from. A small camp is constructed to remedy this. After returning from the battle, he sleeps with Meria and dreams about hunting around Castamere as a wolf, during which he kills a nearby scout and encounters a small force of men, forcing him to retreat. He encounters many other wolves, who seem to submit to him. He uses the wolves to raid a camp around Tarbeck Hall's ruins. At some point, Arya Stark hears about Ethan's exploits in battle with Robb and Roose Bolton voices his concerns that the boy is no danger without his brother to direct him. Robb takes Ethan the next day to the Crag, where they manage to take the castle but at the cost of Robb being wounded in the fighting. Ethan defends his brother, at the cost of taking a morningstar blow to the back and being incapacitated, only for their wolves to fight off any attackers. After the battle, Ethan is visited by his wife, who reports that Jeyne Westerling is tending to Robb's wounds. While he is wounded, he has a fever dream about Alysane and how he met her, before she died of pox. He wakes up crying, and is comforted by Meria. Dacey Mormont joins them, having cleansed the lands surrounding the Crag of any scouts, but when Ethan asks where Meria is, he answers that she was taken in the night by vagabonds and taken to the Riverlands. Arya encounters her later on at Harrenhal, where Gregor Clegane tortures her, before leaving her in a crow cage to languish. She pleads for Ethan in her sleep, and Arya starts sobbing when she learns that the girl was married to Ethan Stark - she begs Meria to tell her what happened to Ethan, but the girl is too tired to answer. When Meria finally dies at the hands of the Mountain, it is discovered that she was with child - Ethan's son, which the Mountain feeds to his hounds. Meria Blackwood's murder causes Ethan to have nightmares of her crawling out of Harrenhal and cursing him, and of her infant son turning into a demon and burning Winterfell. While at the Crag, Ethan meets Jeyne Westerling and finds her to be fairly beautiful, to which Robb adds that he has slept with her - this horrifies Ethan, who knows that Robb is sworn to the Freys. Robb knows that this is a problem but, citing honour over duty, voices his plans to marry her. Ethan is stunned by this and wonders aloud what he is thinking breaking his vows. Robb becomes angry after a while with Ethan and orders him, as his king, to leave Robb alone and send a raven to report the victory at the Crag. In a rage, Ethan does this, but he then leaves with his armies and attacks the ruins of Castamere, where Daven Lannister reappears and mounts a counter-attack against Robb. At the Battle of Castamere, in which the Greatjon's men are taken by surprise and battered, Ethan's men emerge and take Daven's men off-guard. Ethan loses few men, and Daven's western warriors, who are hardened but sparse from frequent battle, eventually fall back, only for Daven's relief force to arrive and tries to take Castamere. The battle lasts until the morning, during which the Greatjon engages with Daven and loses, being wounded by an arrow. However, defeating the Greatjon was a hollow advantage, considering that it was a distraction for Ethan sack the camps of Casterly Rock and give no option but retreat for the Lannisters. Ethan remains at Castamere until Robb calls him back and announces his plans to return to his mother at Riverrun, where he plans to reveal his marriage. Ethan leaves Robert Manderly in charge of the castle while he is gone, and on the ride home he mourns Meria, and how she was butchered because of her connection to him. When he reunites with Robb, they are noticeably awkward after their argument earlier in the war. Robb apologises for the words they exchanged, but Ethan still feels dreadful, despite the excellent victory he won at Castamere. He acknowledges that they ought to stay in the west where their lands have been won, but feels that he has to aid Robb in the inevitable confrontation that Catelyn will have with him. Quotes Quotes about Ethan Category:House Stark Category:Siblings Category:POV character Category:Characters Category:Fanon Characters Category:Characters from the North Category:Prince